Trademark Policy

Respect Trademark Rights

Using a trademark without the trademark owner’s permission on the Twitch Services in a manner that may mislead or confuse others about who you are, or your brand affiliation, may violate Twitch’s Trademark Policy.

How Do You Report a Violation?

When asserting a trademark violation, you should identify the allegedly infringing work and the legal basis for your claim, including the registration and/or application numbers for your trademark.

Describe the goods or services in connection with which you use your trademark

Describe where you use your trademark

Identify the location of the infringing activity on Twitch (e.g., provide us with a link) and describe how it is a violation

We only investigate reports from a trademark owner or authorized agent.

How Does Twitch Process Trademark Reports?

Upon receipt of a report, we do the following:

Review the report to determine that it is complete.

Determine if there is a violation of our trademark policy. If we take action based on a report, we will provide the impacted account holder with your name and the information included in your report so they can respond to the claim.

In certain cases, we may also give the impacted account holder an opportunity to comply with our policies or file an appeal.

Any appeal must include an explanation of their side of the situation, along with any relevant materials for us to review. A successful appeal will likely result in restoration of the content or account.

Remember, Twitch has discretion to make and implement reasonable determinations of trademarks used on the Twitch Services.

However, Twitch cannot serve as the arbiter of disputes among third parties. Any further dispute between you and the impacted account holder should be resolved directly between you.

Please note that Twitch may, at its discretion, share a copy of your notice with third parties, including for publication.

Don’t Impersonate Others!

You are free to parody, marvel, and rain praise on others, but you cannot pretend to actually be any other person or company.

Thus, don’t do things that would cause confusion between you, or your community, and a person or company. See our Community Guidelines for more information at Community Guidelines.

What is Not a Violation of This Policy?

Any reference to another’s trademark is not an automatic violation. For example, I love playing Overwatch!

It is permissible for an account holder to use a trademark in a manner that is outside the scope of the trademark owner’s rights. For example, a trademark for plumbing services likely will not apply to gaming activities (you’re safe, Super Mario).

You can use someone’s trademark to refer to their goods or services – just not in a way that confuses other users about whose trademark it is. In legal terms, nominative and other fair uses of trademarks do not violate this policy. However, an account holder that uses a trademark must clearly distinguish itself from the trademark owner.

Include a description on the channel page/community page that would be understood by others that the group or account holder is not affiliated with the trademark by using words such as “parody,” “fan,” “commentary,” “subscribers of,” etc.

Account or community names should not be the exact trademark without some other distinguishing word such as “fan,” “subscriber,” “commentary,” or “players”.